


|listen to the world|

by littlekaracan



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: 'wow i like earth it's nice here it's not like i'd ever try to take over', Basically, Childhood Memories, Good Loki, and more of, but not as much of shit, e w, good times fic, he's still a bit of 'loki is a little shit' tag, help me, i also made them like 10 so i don't know how that would work out, i mean i'm just a slut for brodinsons soo, just saying right off the bat, lol, no smut in here lol, nothing but good times in this fic, now that's what i call foreshadowing, this is not a thorki fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-20
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-07 04:29:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13426830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlekaracan/pseuds/littlekaracan
Summary: Loki's shape-shifting abilities brought him on a little sight-seeing adventure all the way to Midgard. Thor doesn't quite understand what his brother likes about that world so much, and said brother is willing to show him.





	|listen to the world|

**Author's Note:**

> absolutely no bad times in this fic. only good times. we deserve good times before infinity war. have a little childhood memory about a thick forest, a book on valkyries, and a tiny bird.

It wasn't unusual to notice a small skua flying in great heights if you decided to throw your head back when outside - but this one was a tad different. The bird seemed to be a bit unsure of what it was doing, and, well, indecisive; it dived down like a rock and then rose up again, struggling to maintain proper balance. As if it wasn't taught how to fly!

The bird glanced down and saw the enormous fields and villages below it, and the view made its little head spin. It definitely wasn't used to being so high in the sky with nothing but a pair of nearly transparent wings to prevent it from falling to its death, but this situation looked like it was a challenge, and it accepted that (probably very dangerous) circumstances as such.

It was being watched all along by a pair of keen eyes whose bearer, it should be mentioned, was standing safely on the ground. A boy with golden hair brushed a strand off his face and squinted at the sky as the bright rays of sun blinded him.  
  
"Hey!" He shouted at the bird upon spotting him somewhere below the clouds. "Get over here!"

Strangely enough, the little skua seemed to comply, although a bit reluctantly, as it circled around a bit more, maybe in an attempt to show off or let the little boy know that he wasn't its mother.

Finally it came down, a little wobbly, though, as it failed to stop at the right time and crashed right into the ground, a few leaves fluttering away from the impact. The skua twitched for a moment and then peculiar green flames sparked across its entire body, hiding the bird and revealing a torso, a hand, another, then a head...

A boy lay in the leaves, looking a bit dizzy, but unhurt. He shook his head lightly, probably to get oily black hair that most likely had not been washed in a while off his face rather than regain a sense of reality. He looked a tad younger than the lad that called him, and that lad now stood over him with a questionably annoyed expression. He took off his coat in a rush and dropped it on a now fully conscious human child that was a skua moments ago.

"Do you really need to go to do your thing without any spare clothes, Loki?" He complained, wrapping his arms around himself, admittedly a little cold when faced by chilly autumn breeze.

"Well, what do you suggest I do, brother?" The shapeshifter sat up and laid the coat on his shoulders, visibly shivering. "How would you feel about, say, a feline running around with pants on? Or a deer with a waistcoat? I don't even want to think about a bird with a vest dragging it down."

A bit of silence cut the conversation with the two staring each other down, but then the older boy finally offered his hand, and the other gracefully held on, glad that his brother didn't make fun of the considerably extended amount of time it took for him to get used to his own legs again.

"I don't understand why you always want to come to this world for your tricks in particular. This place might be pretty big, but it's not that pretty. Home is much better, at least there's no silence. It's maddening," The blond murmured under his breath as they turned to a dusty road that lead into a thick forest. "Is there even a reason?"

"Why are we going back, Thor?" Twirling a strand of dark hair around a pair of his pale fingers, the shapeshifter dodged the question and finally found enough confidence in his body to let go of his brother's hand. "I barely had time to do anything. Was Mother calling, or-"

"The book you showed me yesterday." The sudden interruption prompted Loki to look at his brother, and find him eyeing the bushes they were walking past. "You told me I could have it."

"The one on Valhalla?" Loki clarified, and as Thor pressed his lips together, he corrected himself, "Valhalla _and_ valkyries. Yes, I remember."

The blond stayed quiet for a second - that happened rarely, really - and Loki raised an eyebrow.

"What happened? You couldn't find it?"

"No, I--" Now, it's probably worth mentioning that as an older child, Thor was a bit... more unsuccessful when it came to deception. He sighed. "Yeah."

The wait of a couple seconds for that usual little stifled giggle he received from Loki often paid off almost immediately, and Thor skillfully smacked him over the head.

"I have three books in my room, brother." The boy smoothly covered up the traces of laughter in his voice after getting a bit ruffled. "Three books."

"I almost burned my hands off trying to search under your bed." The tips of his fingers still tingled lightly. "What are you keeping in there, a journal?"

"No need to search my room for a book I told you that _you_ could have. Could've just looked on the bed instead of under it or something."

"A _journal_ , Loki?"

Silence was uncomfortable, so the young boy made a displeased noise and accepted his defeat. "Alright, maybe I should have put it somewhere that would make it clear to you."

"Maybe so," Thor snorted in laughter and the two continued on, no more grudges about locks covered in flames between them.

As they stopped in an area rarely approached by carriages or travelers in general, Loki suddenly grabbed his brother by his sleeve.

"Wait just a moment," He requested firmly, and Thor, albeit surprised, complied. Loki rarely, if ever, had been attached to any place. Even rarer were the occasions when he wanted to show his older brother anything.

Loki raised his hand and pressed it over Thor's eyes as the boy, understandably startled, grabbed his wrist.

"You try putting your dagger near me again and I'm telling Heimdall not to let you go anywhere anymore," Thor warned quickly, but Loki just chuckled lightly, holding his palm in the same place and robbing his brother of daylight completely.

"Shut up and listen." His voice died down in the middle of his words.

"To what?"

"To this world."

"Huh?"

He didn't get any answer, so before slapping Loki's hand away, he attempted to do as he said.

To listen.

And to his ultimate surprise, he started _hearing._ Perhaps his ears were just a bit too used to clashing of swords and grunts of hurt fighters to sense it before, but silence wasn't the right word to describe this world.

"You're wrong, brother." Loki's voice sounded a bit muffled, and, well, there were too many other sounds to pay attention to. "This world isn't quiet. It's the opposite, actually, but you just never give it a chance."

Thor heard a yowl of some animal first, maybe a wolf or a fox, but then the sound of running water claimed his attention. Perhaps there was a river somewhere there, Thor thought, and the sound of wind swirling and playing in the very tops of the trees interrupted his thoughts almost immediately. He could almost swear there was a bird singing somewhere above them, and there were countless more noises that he couldn't identify - but even if that was the case, he could hear them, and it was almost like standing before a mighty enemy when you know you can't win and everything nice in life spills right onto you as a reminder how pretty living can be...

...And then Loki dropped his hand, and raised his eyebrows at Thor, who squinted at his brother, almost angered at the sudden peace and quiet that seemed to come back with the return of his vision. It wasn't as quiet as before, though - he could still hear the river somewhere, albeit faintly, and the bird was chirping even closer than before.

"Did you hear it?" Loki asked, his tone almost mocking.

Thor didn't answer. "Heimdall, whenever you're ready," He muttered.

Having a few spare moments before they're taken back home, Thor looked at Loki, whose expression was unreadable - but not the same as his usual game face as if he was about to play a trick. It was more like stifling an emotion - what that emotion was, he couldn't tell.

"Loki?" He said, his tone a bit more unsure than always. The boy looked at him, eyes met eyes, and Thor grinned.

"That was the most convincing bird I've seen."

Even though he hadn't seen Loki shape-shifting many times and this compliment didn't hold much weight, the little smile the boy cracked right before the two boys vanished via Bifrost made it just a bit more worth saying it.


End file.
